Is­raAID has sent a team of emer­gency per­son­nel to help the vic­tims of the blazes in Cal­i­for­nia that have killed 40 and razed 5,700 homes and busi­nesses

Ateam of seven aid work­ers from Is­raeli hu­man­i­tar­ian aid or­ga­ni­za­tion Is­raAID are work­ing in evac­u­a­tion cen­ters in Cal­i­for­nia af­ter the worst se­ries of blazes in the state’s his­tory. Since the fi es broke out al­most a week ago, 40 peo­ple have been killed, 5,700 homes and busi­nesses de­stroyed, and 100,000 peo­ple evac­u­ated through­out the Napa Val­ley re­gion. Even now, fi efi hters are strug­gling to con­trol blazes that are racing to­wards new com­mu­ni­ties.

The Is­raeli team be­gan work in Santa Rosa, Cal­i­for­nia last week, and is help­ing to co­or­di­nate and pro­vide re­lief sup­plies and stress man­age­ment to the af­fected com­mu­nity.

“The sit­u­a­tion on the ground is over­whelm­ing and the need for both phys­i­cal and emo­tional sup­port is ur­gent. The loss of lives, houses and the news about Camp New­man are hard to digest,” said Yo­tam Politzer, coCEO of Is­raAID.

Is­raAID, a non-gov­ern­men­tal or­ga­ni­za­tion that flies out all over the world to pro­vide both short and long-term help in the wake of disas­ters, has a team based in the Bay Area of Cal­i­for­nia, which is sup­ported by the Koret Foun­da­tion.

Th y were “able to re­spond im­me­di­ately and work side by side with our friends from Con­gre­ga­tion Shom­rei To­rah

in Santa Rosa, and our part­ners from JFCS (who pro­vided much needed mat­tresses), the SF fed­er­a­tion, con­gre­ga­tion Rodef Sholom, Tem­ple Emanuel and Kol Sho­far to es­tab­lish a camp for chil­dren and fam­i­lies af­fected by the dis­as­ter within Shom­rei To­rah com­pound,” said Politzer.

He added that Is­raAID plans to mon­i­tor the long term needs of those af­fected by the fi es, and pro­vide sup­port dur­ing the re­cov­ery process.

Is­raAID has re­sponded to a string of nat­u­ral disas­ters in re­cent months, send­ing teams to Puerto Rico, Texas, Mex­ico and Do­minica, fol­low­ing the re­cent fl ods and earth­quake.

Some 5,700 homes and busi­nesses have been de­stroyed in the fires. Photo cour­tesy Is­raAID

Aid work­ers from Is­raeli non­profit Is­raAID of­fer help to vic­tims of the deadly fires in Cal­i­for­nia. Photo cour­tesy Is­raAID